A year later
by lilkiz1
Summary: So, guys and gals. It's been a year without the beloved Gilmore Girls. This story is in recognition of that event. L/L Centric, of course. Rated T for safety.


**An L/L centric fanfic based on a year later.**

**IN RECOGNITION OF IT BEING ONE YEAR SINCE THE GILMORE GIRLS LEFT OUR TELEVISION SCREENS AND BECAME ALL ABOUT DVD'S, YOUTUBE VIDEO'S, AND OF COURSE... FANFICS.**

**ENJOY!**

**_A year later._**

"Can you believe it's almost a year ago that we got back together?" Lorelai swooned as she and Luke laid comfortably on the living room couch.

"It feels like so long ago," Luke said with a kiss to her temple.

"It's been a crazy year, that's for sure," she told him, burying her face into his flannel clad chest.

Lorelai and Luke had reconciled on the day of Rory's graduation party. After she'd left they'd worked hard on getting their relationship back up to speed, back to normal and better than it had ever been. Until recently it'd been going great, until Luke devised a plan to propose to Lorelai in the most sweetest fashion she'd ever seen a man do anything for her – ever. She'd accepted pretty much straight away, taking their relationship from great to amazing, and they'd organised their wedding for three weeks later, with much help from Emily, Sookie and from afar – Rory.

Lorelai and Luke walked into the diner the next morning, hand in hand, talking non-stop about the wedding in two weeks. Two weeks, that's right. All the hustle and bustle that still needed to be figured out, hadn't been figured out. Lorelai had already delegated one full day to dress shopping with Sookie, finding her favourite dress and buying it instantaneously. Emily had worked with her on the guest list and the invitations, getting them out as soon as possible. She'd decided on The Dragonfly for the ceremony and the reception. All she had left to do was the floral arrangements, the officiant, the honeymoon (although Luke had sworn he'd taken care of it, Lorelai wanted to snoop), the menu, all aspects of the food at the reception, wine, and about four thousand other things.

"But do you want white or off-white?" Lorelai whine at Luke as she took her usual stool at the front of the counter.

"Lorelai, honestly." Luke deadpanned.

"What? This is an important decision, and you're the one who rebuffed Sookie when she said that she was the BFOTB… you said you wanted to be included," she pouted, shuffling the colour samples she had in her hands and looking up at him before taking a sip of the coffee he had poured her.

"Yes, I want to be included, but if you choose white over off-white for the colour of the plates at the reception, I'm not going to be mad if you choose the one I don't like," Luke explained, getting confused.

"Okay then, wanna hear my thoughts?" Lorelai asked.

"It's inevitable either way," Luke chuckled.

"Well, I was thinking that 'cause it's a wedding, there'll be so much white already. So, why don't we have white tablecloths and off-white crockery?" she asked, compromising.

"Sounds great," Luke said before turning back to the coffee maker and refilling it.

Lorelai pulled out a notepad and began crossing things off. She put it on the counter and let out an exhausted, stressed sigh.

"What was that?" Luke asked, gesturing to the notepad.

"My to-do list," Lorelai told him, lifting it up and showing him the pages of lists that she had to complete.

"Honeymoon?" Luke asked loudly as he looked at the list closely. "I told you, I've already taken care of that," he groaned.

"Tell me where we're going and then I'll believe you," Lorelai said in a mock-mean tone.

"You don't have to know everything Loreali, can't you let something be a surprise? I promise you that you'll like it,"

"Well, until I see concrete plans I'm going to keep that on my list," Lorelai teased.

"What, so you're going to book and pay for a whole other honeymoon 'cause you're too childish to want to ruin the surprise?" Luke said, a little too harshly.

"Childish?" Lorelai asked, scoffing.

"You know what I meant," Luke said, leaning on his arms on the counter.

"Yeah, whatever, I'll see you later," Lorelai told him, collecting her things and placing them in her bag before jumping off of the stool and walking out of the diner.

About four months into their relationship, Lorelai had asked Luke to move back into the crap shack with her. He moved back in straight away. After the flat-screen was removed, after they replaced her bed and after any remnants of Lorelai's 'other life' of the past year were misplaced or thrown away. Lorelai contemplated making a Christopher box, mainly for Rory so that she'd have things of her Dad. After thinking for approximately two minutes, she decided against it, knowing that she wanted to be with Luke for the rest of her life so there was no need for a Christopher box.

Luke watched as Lorelai sauntered out of the diner. He was crushed that he'd hurt her. Now he had to go home and no doubtedly be forced to sleep on the couch. The new couch that he and Lorelai had picked out for their new life together as a full-blown soon to be married couple that were in this together forever.

Luke decided to busy himself for the rest of the day, knowing that Lorelai would be busy at the inn until at least seven o'clock, like most nights lately as the wedding planning goes full steam ahead.

xxx

Lorelai got back to the Dragonfly ten minutes later, bee lining straight for the kitchen for a little gossip and a little rant to Sookie about her husband to be. She walked into the kitchen and heaved her bag up onto the island, letting out a sigh. Sookie jumped at the loud noise the bag made as it came into contact with the bench, shutting the door and turning to look at Lorelai who had busied herself at the coffee maker.

"Hon?" Sookie asked cautiously, craning her head to get a better look at her friend.

"Yeah," Lorelai said in a grunt.

"Something wrong?" Sookie asked, mirroring their conversation the day after Lorelai and Luke had ended their engagement – the first time.

"Am I childish?" Lorelai asked as a matter of factly.

"Childish? No, I wouldn't call you childish – I mean, you haven't lost all of your child antics or that part of your personality, but childish means that you act like a child mostly, which you do, but not in a bad way, I just mean that – oh god, I don't know… why?" Sookie asked after a long winded explanation.

"Luke called me childish," Lorelai said, looking down into her coffee cup before looking up at Sookie and taking a sip.

"Luke?" Sookie asked, "No,"

"Yep, because I wouldn't stop asking him what was going on with the honeymoon – he said that I needed to trust that he'd picked somewhere I'd like and all I said was that I won't believe it until he tells me. And then he said that I was childish because I was going to go and pay for another honeymoon because I didn't believe that he'd organised one, mainly because I wanted to know," Lorelai said with a loud sigh.

"Wow, that's some conversation you guys had," Sookie said, baffled at what it all meant.

"Guh," Lorelai grunted out, waving a hand at Sookie before grabbing her bag and heading into her office.

Lorelai barely sat down when the her cell-phone rang. She dug through her bag and brought it out, bringing it close to her face to check the caller id. She smiled gleefully when she saw that it was Rory. She pressed the answer button.

"RORY!!" Lorelai screamed into the phone, excitedly pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Hey Mom!" Rory said into the phone, not as excited as Lorelai, but still plenty excited. "How are the wedding plans coming along?"

"Not that great, I still have tons to do before you get here in ten days, four hours and thirty six minutes." Lorelai said with a smile.

"Not counting down or anything," Rory said sarcastically.

"Nope," Lorelai teased. "So I've pretty much finished the stuff for the reception, except I have to go over the menu with Sookie,"

"Have you gotten an Officiant yet?" Rory asked.

"No, but worst comes to worst we can have Reverend Skinner do it, or that crazy wacky dude that did Liz and TJ's wedding and wanted to be a troubadour to do it," Lorelai said with a chuckle.

"Crazy wacky dude aint gonna cut it," Rory said with a laugh. "Just get Archie to do it, he's a good guy and he knows the two of you,"

"Good idea hon, I'll call him once you get off the phone,"

"Oh the love, it's a wonder how I didn't stay living with you the whole of my life," Rory teased.

"Well yeah, you live and learn," Lorelai shot back.

The two talked for a while after that, Lorelai going over all aspects of the wedding with her daughter, from describing the wedding dress to the crockery and the fight she'd had with Luke. Rory had convinced Lorelai that he wasn't trying to upset her, just trying to get her to trust him about the honeymoon. She soon realised that she'd over-reacted and decided to let it go.

After the conversation with Rory, Lorelai dialled the number of the church.

"Hello?" came the familiar voice of Reverend Archie Skinner.

"Reverend Skinner? This is Lorelai Gilmore," she said into the phone.

"Yes, Lorelai, what can I do for you?" he asked, writing something down on a piece of paper before focussing his full attention on the conversation at hand.

"Well, as you know, in two weeks, Luke and I are getting married," Lorelai told him.

"Yes, yes,"

"Well we still don't have an Officiant, now I know that you got an invite as a guest, but it would mean a lot to the both of us if you could marry us as well?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, Lorelai, that would be an honour, it would be my pleasure," he assured her.

"Great, thankyou so much," Lorelai said with a wide smile.

"No problem,"

Lorelai hung up the phone and giggled to herself. She pulled out the famous wedding planning notepad and crossed the Officiant off her list. She was slowly but surely making her way through it, taking it one step at a time.

xxx

Luke walked home that evening, stopping in the driveway, grabbing the toolbox affectionately known as Bert out of the tray of the truck and pulling an envelope out of the glove box in his truck before making his way up the steps. He turned the knob of the door but oddly enough, found it locked. He knew Lorelai was home because her Jeep was in the driveway. It was funny, she never locks the door.

He pulled out his key and unlocked the door, walking into the foyer and placing the toolbox on the table and the envelope in his jacket. He walked into the living room and found Lorelai asleep on the couch, the credits rolling of one of her favourite movies. He sighed, she always locked the door when she was tired, in case someone came in while she was sleeping.

He bent down and slid his right arm underneath her knees and his left arm underneath her back. He picked her up easily and placed a soft kiss to her temple, like he'd done so many times before. She buried her face into his chest and smiled contently, knowing what he was doing, just for her.

"I love you Luke," Lorelai said in a barely audible tone before closing her eyes tight again and drifting back off to sleep.

"I love you too," Luke told her defiantly.

xxx

A week and a bit later, Lorelai had gotten a lot of her list done and checked off. She had finally found a florist that was able to do her floral arrangements on such late notice. She'd finally finalized the menu with Sookie and Luke. Luke had picked out his tuxedo's and groomsmen. Lorelai had picked out Sookie, Liz and Rory's bridesmaids outfits (Rory was also maid of honour).

Rory had called the day before and told Lorelai about a good idea for a guest book that she'd seen at a wedding she'd reported on for the paper. Instead of having those boring guest books at tables, they had decided to have a large mural, where the guests could write, draw or scribble their congratulations and best wishes. Instead of a boring pen, there'd be colour and eventually, it was decorative. Lorelai didn't like the idea at first, but Rory offered to make sure it didn't turn out like a piece of crap, which ultimately make Lorelai say yes.

Lorelai scampered into the diner that day exhausted to the point where she could no longer walk. She slumped onto her usual stool and looked up at Luke.

"Okay, so… how important is it to you to have a wedding?" Lorelai asked.

Luke simply looked at her.

"I thought so." she said with a sigh.

"How's the planning coming along?" Luke asked. "The wedding is in six days." he reminded her.

"I know, I know," Lorelai said, waving her hand at him. "It's going good, I think we're nearing the finish line. I want to be finished in two days, so that I can spend my last four days as a single woman with my beautiful daughter, who might I add is coming home in two days," she said with a huge smile.

"Why do people say that?" Luke asked.

"Say what?" Lorelai said, confused.

"Last days, last nights as a single woman. You're not a single woman, you're still in a relationship. Being a single woman would imply that you could go out and get strippers and have sex with random people and kiss anyone you want and do whatever you want. Don't brides know that saying you're a single woman for your last night as a 'non-married woman' isn't exactly how the groom would see it?" Luke asked.

"Wow, you have such… strong opinions on this subject don't you?" Lorelai asked.

"Not really, I just don't see how they think they're single. If you're going out for your bachelorette party, it's because you're getting married the next day, not because it's your last night as a 'single' woman." Luke said with a sigh.

"Luke, it's a figure of speech. It just means it's my last night before I'm tied down to the ol' ball and chain," she said with a smile.

"Nice," Luke retorted.

"Wow," Lorelai said, raising her eyebrows.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Nothing… just, this conversation – wow!" Lorelai said, baffled.

"Yeah well…"

xxx

A few days later Lorelai and Luke were laying in bed in the morning. Luke was fast asleep but Lorelai was fidgeting like crazy. Today was the day that Rory was coming home. Finally, all the planning was done and finished. Finally she got to see her daughter. She was unconsciously bouncing in the bed, leaning over Luke constantly to check the time on his alarm clock. When she did it the sixth time, Luke finally woke up. He tried to will himself back to sleep but couldn't.

"Lorelai, stop," Luke said in a muffled tone.

Lorelai scoffed. "Stop what exactly?" she asked.

"Bouncing. You're making the bed move," he told her.

"Well if it isn't Mr. I don't snore like a buzz-saw," Lorelai teased, "You stop yours and I'll stop mine,"

Luke rolled over quickly and grabbed Lorelai by the waist. When she squirmed, he grabbed her arms and held them down before throwing a leg over her legs, keeping her still but still squealing. Luke moved his head and placed his mouth over Lorelai's, instantly stopping the sound. She giggled through the kiss. The giggles turned into moans as Luke deepened the kiss, massaging her tongue with his own.

Lorelai broke the kiss and burst into a fit of giggled, eventually squirming out of Luke's grasp, she got up and went to the closet, choosing her outfit for the day. Luke fell back onto the pillows with a 'humph' before focussing on what Lorelai was doing. She picked out dark denim jeans and a black, long sleeved shirt. Simply, but cute. She moved into the bathroom and got in the shower.

Luke got up out of the bed and went over to the same closet, picking out his clothes. He copied Lorelai's actions and went into the bathroom. Lorelai had already gotten in the shower as Luke flossed his teeth in the mirror. Lorelai heard Luke put the floss packet down.

"What are you doing out there?" Lorelai asked.

"Flossing, and waiting for you to finish" Luke said.

"Stop looking at yourself and get in here," Lorelai teased.

"Why?" Luke teased back.

"Just do it." she told him.

Luke stripped off his bed clothes, shivering in the cold his skin was now exposed to. He pulled the curtain aside to see Lorelai standing under the shower head, washing the remnants of the shampoo out of her hair. He quickly stepped out of his boxers and got into the shower. He grabbed onto Lorelai's waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Hi," she said with a sheepish smile.

"You know, I'm starting to think we should go on a sex-ban until the wedding, you know, let the frustration build up so it's the best sex we've ever had," Luke told her.

"Un-necessary," she whispered, pulling his head down to kiss her.

xxx

Lorelai and Luke arrived at the airport and greeted Rory affectionately. Lorelai screaming at the site of her, running towards her and capturing her in the most tight hug they'd ever experienced. Of course, Rory didn't mind, she was hugging her mother.

On the ride home Luke drove and Lorelai and Rory were seated in the back.

"I feel like a chauffer," Luke droned.

"Come on…" Lorelai said with a laugh.

Lorelai and Rory caught up in the back seat all the way to Luke's surprise day, with several sweet embraces, and almost tears from Lorelai. After a fun filled day of shopping and random games, they settled into the crap shack, Rory taking her old room as per usual and Luke settling in upstairs.

"So, I'm hear to help with wedding drama," Rory said proudly, walking into the kitchen where Lorelai was pouring two cups of coffee. "I know you're you, Mom, but how do you drink so much coffee at eight at night and not stay up all night?" she asked.

"As you said, I'm me," Lorelai said with a blissfully proud look on her face. "And as for the wedding – it's all prepared,"

"Really? All of it?" Rory asked.

"Every single thing," she told her. "Speaking of which, I have your dress in my room,"

"Really?" Rory asked.

"Yep, come on," Lorelai said excitedly, leading her up the stairs. She pushed the door open and saw Luke sitting on the bed, flipping mindlessly through the channels on the television. "Hey babe, just showing Rory the dresses," she said, shutting the door to the walk in closet so that Luke couldn't see.

Lorelai showed Rory her dress and Lorelai's wedding dress. Needless to say, Rory loved them both, and was honoured to be Lorelai's maid of honour.

xxx

The wedding day had arrived. Lorelai wasn't nervous. She couldn't believe she wasn't nervous, this was only the biggest day of her life. Rory carefully explained to her that the only reason she wasn't nervous was because it was Luke, her Luke, her elusive soul mate. When Lorelai finally calmed down about not being nervous, she was happy.

Finally, the day she was waiting for. She got ready in one of the rooms at the Dragonfly, with Emily, Sookie, Liz and Rory. They got her dressed, did her hair and helped her with her make-up. Despite not being done by a professional, Emily agreed that Lorelai looked absolutely gorgeous. Her hair was in a simple up-do with a few stray hairs flowing around beautifully, and her makeup was dark but not too dark, giving her a mysterious quality, but a beautiful look. Emily was not in the wedding for one reason only; Lorelai wanted Emily to have a front row seat of her only child getting married.

Liz, Sookie and Emily wished Lorelai their best and left the room, leaving only Lorelai and Rory to do the final touches. As Rory was helping Lorelai attach her veil, they began to talk.

"I'm so happy for you Mom," Rory said sincerely.

Lorelai looked at Rory and smiled. "Thanks, sweets,"

"And Luke really is the perfect guy," Rory told her undoubtedly.

"I know," Lorelai said, a tear creeping up in her eye.

"Don't cry Mom, this is a good day," Rory said sweetly, placing a kiss on Lorelai's cheek before leading her out of the room.

As the ceremony started, Lorelai walked up to the end of the aisle, Richard awaiting. They linked arms and Richard smiled.

"I'm so proud of you Lorelai," he said with wet eyes.

Lorelai momentarily looked at him and smiled, "Thankyou Daddy,"

"Your mother and I love you very much, I hope you know that," he said, almost in a whisper.

Lorelai closed her eyes and nodded her head. The music started.

xxx

The reception was intimate, but beautiful and all of Lorelai's rushed details turned out great. Luke commended her on the speed that she'd gotten all of this done in, and all of the guests offered her their heart-felt warm congratulations.

As the night went on, Luke and Lorelai got a little tipsy, but were having more fun than ever before. All the guests agreed that this day was over ten years in the making, and they were simply ecstatic that it had finally arrived.

After a night of wildness, Luke and Lorelai jumped into the limo that Rory had organised, ready to take them on their honeymoon. They were followed down to the car by all of the guests throwing flowers at them as they got in. Lorelai smiled and wound down the window to smile at them all, waving shyly and giggling non-stop. She looked at Luke and smiled.

They kissed.

And kissed.

And kissed.

And then the car's engine rumbled and they were on their way.

"Where we going?" Lorelai asked cutely.

"Barbados," Luke said with a kiss.

Rory watched as the white limo drove away from her down the street, with cans on strings tied to the back bumper and the writing on the back window reading;

JUST MARRIED.

MAY 15TH 2008.

LUKE AND LORELAI DANES.

And she smiled to herself, it was all perfect. It all worked out. Finally.

**_I know it's rushed... but please review._**

**_Finish this sentance:_**

In the year since Gilmore Girls has finished, I've


End file.
